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Everyone should have to drive a bad car: you lose track of what’s broken and wait for the day it finally stops working. In Mark 14, the Apostle Peter breaks down after denying Jesus, and that breakdown becomes his gateway to grace. His story shows how a low view of ourselves and a high view of Jesus leads to forgiveness, restoration, and transformation we couldn’t produce on our own.
Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Paul Stiver
Hope Community Church - North Lakes
For more resources or to learn more about Hope North Lakes, visit hopecc.com/north-lakes.
A weekly message from Hope Community Church: North Lakes, located in Shoreview, MN
Amen. Hey, welcome to Hope Community Church, North Lakes. My name is Paul Stiver. I have the joy of serving here as the pastor. And I want to welcome you, especially if you're new or just checking out church, checking out Christianity, checking out Hope North Lakes. We want to be a church that is welcoming, authentic, clear, and engaging. We want you to have an opportunity to learn more about Jesus Christ and what He means for your life. Maybe consider starting that relationship with him. And so we try to make that clear. And we want to do as a part of that, we want to invite you to check us out for five weeks. And what I like to say is like by the time you see me wear the same Costco shirt twice, you'll know you've been sticking around for a little while. And the reason we do that is to help you understand what church looks like, what our church looks like, and see if you feel called to be connected to our body. Our family here at Hope North Lakes. Uh i want to start actually i was uh convicted during the sermon i oh we're not. Doing that i don't know why i had that in there all right Um i want to start with uh just some prayer i think we're going to look at peter's life today in the. Gospel of mark And see how he goes from self-trust. To being humbled and dependent And i've been preaching for not that long i tell you when you. There's an old pastor that says Your first hundred sermons, no matter who you are. They suck. And I'm at a hundred or more now and they still look questionable. So I'm going to pray and ask for God's help and try to follow Peter and walk out of self-trust into dependence. So please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we just come before you. And I just personally acknowledge my need and dependence for you to move right now as we look at your word. I pray for every person in this room, that your spirit would meet us in our hearts as we look. Through this passage today. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we are going to look at the lowest moment in the Apostle Peter's life today. His rock bottom, and we're going to see how he redeems himself. No, no, no. We're going to see how he realizes that he's broken and needs redemption to come from outside him. We need to see that. I was thinking about how he's going to be humbled. And sometimes you hear like, you should work in food service. Ever hear this? Be a server, and that's a good way to be humbled early in life. or another way I was thinking about it is like owning a bad car is a great way to be humbled. This is Stella. That's my Camry on the day she went to that great junkyard in the sky. And, uh, but I was thinking, oh, driving a bad car is a great gift in the sense that it very much humbles you. Like you get to the point where you like your laundry list of things wrong with it. You like have forgotten. And then someone gets in your car and you're like, oh, that's yeah, that doesn't work. Of course not. Why would that work? Um, but then I remember too, like having shame. You go to get the oil changed and the oil change guys like. Here's like everything wrong with your car, by the way, do you want us to fix it? And you're like, no, It's beyond, we're not going to do that. And then like, you're just waiting, right? Like I always play the. Favorite game when you hit like a four-way stop, my favorite game would be, is it idling or about to shut off? I don't know what it's going to do. And you're just kind of waiting for it to finally. Just hit the bricks. And that's a lot like what we're going to see from Peter. Broken things eventually break down. When Peter breaks down today, he's broken his whole life. We're going to see his story. When he breaks down today, it becomes the. Gateway for grace for him. He's finally humbled enough to be open to his need for a Savior. We're going to see what that means for all of us. So we are going to walk through this passage, and we're going to spend a lot of time in the Scriptures. Actually, probably the most Bible I've ever put in front of us in a sermon, and at least images. Which I'm going to miss, some memes and stuff that I normally would put in. But we're going to do these seven verses here, and then we're going to look at the story of Peter's life. So it says here in Mark 14, 66 through 72. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with the Nazarene Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway. And the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him before the rooster crows twice. You will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. So Jesus had predicted that Peter would deny him, and Peter does just that. He denies him. But the good news for Peter, thankfully for him, is his story is a redemption story. So I was looking at what are kind of the four elements, if you had to break it down, of a redemption story. And the first one is the fall, like that you're on this downward trajectory, and then comes that moment of reckoning where you realize. Like, this is not going how I thought it would go. This is a problem. I need intervention. And that opens up for grace. And it's not just grace that comes to us. It's grace that changes us. And that leads to transformation. And so we've got these four elements. And for Peter, we're just going to walk through his story and see these moments in his redemption story. And the first one is his fall. And it's a long, Slow burn of screw-ups for Peter. So let's start with first his fall that starts after his call. So here in Luke chapter 5, Peter is called by Jesus. What Jesus has been doing is preaching to a large crowd of people. He's actually gone out in the boat, And now he's on Peter's boat, and he's like, hey, you guys aren't catching any fish. Throw your nets over the side. Let's see what happens. And they catch a ton of fish. And now here's what happens. In Luke 5 when Peter is called by Jesus to be a disciple. In verse 8, it says, but when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon, and Jesus said to Simon do not be afraid from now on. You will be Catching men. And when they had Brought their boats to land they left everything. And followed him so here's Peter's call To be a disciple. He actually understands something of the holiness of Jesus when they catch all this fish miraculously. He says, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. And Jesus says, no, actually, I'm not going to depart from you. I want you to come with me. And so Peter becomes a disciple to Jesus, who is his teacher. And he says, what you're going to actually do is not catch fish anymore. You're going to catch more disciples for my kingdom. That is Peter's calling. And he actually becomes very bold in his calling, but his self-trust becomes stronger. And so in Matthew's gospel, we get this picture of his self-trust. He wants to demonstrate his strong faith. And so he, Jesus is out on the waves in the midst of the storm, and it says this in Matthew 14. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, oh you of little faith why did you doubt so Peter steps Foot out of the. Boat saying I'm going to show how tough I am how strong my faith is and as soon as he hits one little wave of adversity he loses that faith he doubts he's humbled here By his own fear he's humbled by the waves. And he's humbled by the words of Jesus So then he continues on, and we have this incredible moment in Matthew 16, and it's this kind of cataclysmic event in Peter's life, this amazing moment. So what we're going to see is this mountaintop moment, but here's the setting. It says, now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. he said to them but who do you say. That i am So now in this context with everything jesus has done and taught he's done miracles he's taught with authorities and all these things he finally asked his disciples hey who who do people say. That i am then he goes further though he says who do you say that i am now the answer to that question at that time and still today, who do you say Jesus is, is the most important thing about us. How we answer that question is the most. Important thing about us. Peter, when he answers it, answers it incredibly correctly. Look what he says. You are the Christ. The Son of the living God. Christ means Messiah. It means God's King sent into the world. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Incredible moment. Look what Jesus says verse 17 blessed are you simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven. And i tell you you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it peter has this incredible moment You are god's king who do you say that i am you're god's king, Jesus calls him blessed. He says, God himself has revealed this to you. He's opened the eyes of your heart that you might understand it. It's divine revelation. This is an incredible moment, Peter. His confession of the gospel that Jesus is God's king sent into the world is the foundation of the church. Jesus says that confession of faith is going to go forward no matter how imperfect my disciples are. It's going to go forward even against the gates of hell. Incredible moment in Peter's life, and it does not last. The very next thing that happens is Jesus, When they start to understand who he is. It's the same with the Gospel of Mark. As they start To understand who he is. He starts to prepare them for his suffering and death. As soon as they start to have a picture of who he is. He starts to say, the Son of Man is going to suffer and die, and that's what he does here, continuing in Matthew. You. It says, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes. The religious leaders of the day, And be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan, for you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God. But on the things of man. That's a tough one for Pete. That one's tough. Just had this mountaintop moment. You're the king. You're God's son. And then immediately when he brings up suffering, Jesus says, I'm going to suffer and die. Peter says, no, no way, buddy. That's not how we're doing this. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. That's a tough. High to low point there, getting called Satan. That's a tough one. And yet Peter still doesn't get it. Even as Jesus nears the cross, another one of his scripts here, John chapter 13. Now this is the Lord's Supper from John's account. And in John's account, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. He actually strips down into just the linen and he's washing the disciples' feet because he's showing them the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. He wants them to understand that he is a slave to them. He's there to serve them. And so he does the role of a slave in washing their feet. He's showing them real love and leadership. And it says here in verse 6, He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Look at this. Moment for Peter. Jesus is going around doing this. Action of a servant, Washing feet. And he says, you're not going to wash me. I'll clean myself up. Thank you very much. I've got this. I'm not going to let you do this for me. And Jesus says, if you don't let me cleanse you, you're not in with me. You don't have any. Part with me if you don't understand this you don't Understand it fully now. But you will and peter Then when he comes to this even this realization. He says make me clean Some of us may be in. This room even our our biggest resistance to jesus our biggest resistance to the gospel is letting him serve us by dying for our sins we want to say no no no god i can't I can never trust in a God that wants me to submit, wants me to come underneath his salvation. No, no, no, I'll figure it out. I'm going to get there. I'll save myself. I'll cleanse myself. Thank you very much. Peter continues with his pride and self-trust. We saw this in Mark, and it kind of calls back to our passage today from Mark 14. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up. I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said emphatically, I must die with you. I will not deny you. And they all said the same. Do we see Peter's self-trust even now? He says, I will never fall away, Jesus. I will never deny you. I'll never do it. Though everyone else falls away, I'll stick with you to the end. Jesus, though, says, you are going to fall away, But I'm going to go before. You to Galilee. And then Peter does fail Jesus. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, the darkest, most painful moment of his life. And what does it say of Peter? It says, and he came to the disciples after he's praying, and he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The person who said he'd never leave Jesus' side can't even stay awake for one hour. And somehow, that's still not as bad as what he does next. And we get this from John's account, a little more detail about the chief priests and elders and scribes. They come out to arrest Jesus. And we saw in Mark's gospel, someone cuts an ear off. Mark doesn't give a name, but John loves naming names. And so he says, Then Simon Peter, in chapter 18, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. In case you want to go talk to Malchus. They'll say, yeah, this happened. He did it. It hurt. So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? Now Jesus does heal the guy's ear. He doesn't leave it that way. What did Peter misunderstand here? He turns The force in fighting. When they come to take Jesus. But Jesus says, no, no, no, I have to go. I have to take this cup. If you were asleep, if you weren't asleep, you would have realized I have to go drink this cup of wrath. I have to die for your sins. This is Peter's long, long laundry list of screw-ups. Just looking at what we saw. He doubted Jesus. He has been called Satan by Jesus. He refused the cleansing love of Jesus. He failed Jesus, and he cut off a guy's ear. It's not a great resume. It's a tough one to say. and yet it gets even worse. Because he's about to deny Jesus. He's about to have his moment of reckoning. Again, our passage from today. Second part of the redemption narrative, but really the first step in coming to terms with things. It says again, as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene Jesus. But he denied it saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway. And the rooster crowed. So here's Peter, the mighty apostle. He's on a mini trial of his own while Jesus is up in the courtyard on trial, challenged by a servant girl, and here he denies Jesus once. Continuing on, verse 69, And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them. But again he denied it. and after a little while the Bystanders again said to Peter certainly you are one of them for you are a Galilean, but he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear I do not know this man of whom you speak, they could hear from his he's got this greater audience and they can kind of hear his Galilean accent his dialect whatever it is it's you're a Galilean you must be with him and he doubles down. He denies Jesus two more times. He gets emphatic. I don't even know him. I don't know him. Of all the things he's done, in the end, he denies Jesus. Verse 72, and immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And the spiritually powerful moment happens in Peter's life. Look what it says. And he broke down and wept. He's finally broken. he's finally broken down he's finally experiencing this sign of sorrow and repentance he's utterly devastated By his failure one more from luke same account he. Tells it this way And the lord turned he's right there he's in. The courtyard Peter's down the gateway the lord turned. And looked at peter and peter remembered the saying of the lord how he said to him before the rooster Mr. Kroos today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. Peter here is at the end of himself. He's wept bitterly. This is his moment of reckoning. You know, the moment of reckoning is the first. Step in any redemption story, because it's that moment where you come to terms with the problem. Reckoning with the reality. Of our sin and our inability to save ourselves is actually the first step in Believing the gospel. And it's the first step in clinging to god in the gospel we have to have this moment of reckoning listen to this from uh ronald kernahan what a great name for a commentator he says at the end of this passage peter has been brought face to face with the truth he did not want to acknowledge. In many ways, this gospel is the story of how Peter, who symbolizes the best efforts of pious people to be faithful, is brought to the point of repentance. Peter thought of himself as this strong-of-faith, pious person, and it finally, after seeing how he denied Jesus, that finally broke him. And it brought him to the point of repentance. He lost his high view of himself. Reckoning with our sin, turning from self-trust, losing our high view of ourselves, is a lot like driving a bad car. at some point we have to be willing to look around at our lives, to look at the broken relationships that we play a part in, to look at the anger we feel, the anxiety we feel, the hurt we cause, the pride that dominates our interactions, the way we trust ourselves. We have to look around at that and say, this is broken. This isn't working. this is not getting me where I want to go. I'm breaking down. And that's exactly the moment in our lives that grace comes in. And we see it in Peter's story. Hopefully it shows up for us as well. Listen to David Garland. He says, one, and we actually can take solace from Peter's story. He says, One can take. Solace from the account of Peter's denials. Peter was the most prominent of Jesus' disciples, yet he was still a sinner in need of God's mercy. He thought he would die for Jesus, but he needed Jesus to die for him. His failure reveals the truth of Jesus' statement. In Mark 2. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark is the gospel of second chance. Peter's story is an encouragement to us why. Maybe in this room right now, you feel like, I need a second chance. you're on maybe a spiritual journey that has led you to wonder why you can't seem to change your life even though you desperately want to or you're carrying a burden of shame from your past or you've got guilt that you just can't seem to give away what do i do with this know that there is in the gospel a second chance your story can be written with resurrection at the center. And that's what happens in Peter's life. Two different passages here. I'm also spoiling the gospel of Mark. Hey guys, Jesus rises from the dead. All right, I spoiled it. All right, so Mark 16. After Jesus rises, listen to this language, but go, tell his disciples and Peter, that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. He said he would go before Peter to Galilee and he does it after he dies and rises again. And he throws us in there. Go tell his disciples and Peter. Peter denied Jesus. And then that whole time he's just waiting, thinking, reflecting on his failure. And then he hears of his resurrected Savior and he hears his Savior say, I'm gonna go before you to Galilee. What great news. The guy I denied has come back for me. Look at Luke 24. When Peter hears that Jesus has risen from the dead, it says he rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling. At what had happened. He ran. I got to see it. I denied him, but he rose for me. I've got to go check this out. He's back. I failed him, but he didn't fail me. What Peter realizes is that he needed More than a second. Chance. Because here's the thing with a second chance. Is it a second chance for you to now. Go do better and fix it? No, what Peter realized is he needed more than a second chance. He needed a Savior. And that's exactly who he gets. He gets a chance then to experience restoration. This from David Garland again. He says, the angel's command in 16.7, go tell his disciples and Peter, holds the promise of his restoration. There were probably members in Mark's church who already had betrayed and denied their Lord. If Peter could be restored after denying his Lord, and even cursing him. Then there was hope for others who might be guilty of the same or worse. Peter's tears of remorse mark the beginning of that restoration. Those words to Peter signify that he can be restored. Redemption is possible, and it's possible because Jesus rose from the dead. Peter's starting to come to understand that. The only people who find redemption, Peter's going to find it. The only people who find redemption. Are those who reckon with their sin and seek Jesus for his very real, very restorative grace. And that grace comes for Peter at the lakeside over a breakfast of some fish with Jesus after he's risen from the dead. Hear from John 21, starting in verse 15. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter. Simon, son of John, Do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John. Do you love me? He said to him. Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. What is Jesus doing right now? He's forgiving him and reinstating him. Continuing, it says he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Now what happened there? Peter denied Jesus three times. So in his restoring and forgiving Peter, he has him confess his love three times. Listen to D.A. Carson. He says, as he had disowned Jesus three times, so Jesus requires this elementary yet profound confession. There is no trace of self-righteousness in Peter's response. He can only appeal to the fact that the Lord knows everything and therefore knows Peter's heart. Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you, and that is enough. Lest there be any doubt that Peter is fully restored to future service, Jesus again commands, feed my lambs. Look at that line right there. There is no trace of self-righteousness in Peter's response. He finally has a right-sized view of himself. Grace that changes removes our self-righteousness. You know, it's interesting. Saying only Christianity out of all the belief system, whether they're religious or not religious, only Christianity says it is not up to you to save your own tail. Every religious system says you've got to do enough good works to be acceptable to whatever God that is. Our world says you've got to do enough good works to be acceptable, well, first to yourself, but then also to the broader society. Only in Christianity is it not up to you to save your own tail. Look at this, actually. Look at, it says there's no trace of self-righteousness in Peter's response. That's what Jesus was trying to work out. Of his heart His whole life. That's what he was trying to do in Peter's life. because in Christianity, we don't establish our own righteousness so that we can stand before God. We don't establish a self-righteousness. We repent of it. Christianity is not about having an amazing spiritual resume. Here is probably the biggest apostle, the apostle Peter, a titan in the Christian faith, and he's most in need of grace. And what that. Means for us coming into a church on a Sunday is you don't need to be impressive to belong here. We don't need you to be impressive. I'm exhausted with trying to be impressive, and I'm exhausted with you trying. To be impressive. Let's all stop. Let's repent. Let's maybe try to be disappointingly normal. Now, I threw this phrase in here. We came up with this in our launch team. I've talked about a bunch. Probably too much. But what we see in Peter's life and his being broken and then being restored by Jesus is he comes to a right-size view. A low view of himself. Not a shame low view of himself, a right-size view, not full-size candy bar, but mini. He comes to a right-size view, a low view of himself and a high view of Jesus. he experiences the freedom of not carrying around self-righteousness all the time that's why we talk about being disappointingly normal we're not flashy we're not holier than thou we're disappointingly normal, we're going to disappoint you with how normal we are. And sometimes i'll just disappoint but that's just for me now here's the thing Why be disappointingly normal why look at peter's. Redemption story because, if we're honest, every person in this room is a lifelong screw-up. But the gospel is hope for screw-ups. We have to reckon with it, But when we do. That reckoning becomes the gateway to grace that changes us. Now, here's the thing about redemption. In our redemption story. There's transformation. Someone else changing you from the inside out. The grace that changes, changes us because it brings us into a redemption story that we can't ruin. Because the Holy Spirit transforms us to live into it. I want you to get a look at Peter and how he was transformed. In Acts chapter 4, now he's on the other side of the cross, on the other side of receiving the Holy Spirit, and they're preaching the gospel and they heal a man. And now they have this confrontation with the religious leaders. It says in Acts 4 verse 1. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000. On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they'd set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or what name did you do this? What are you doing preaching this gospel, healing people? And look what Peter says. Then filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man by what means this man has been healed let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of, Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man is standing before you well, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders which has become the cornerstone and there is salvation and no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men. By which we Must be saved. Look at Peter. No fear. No denial. He's just testifying to the gospel in the face of adversity. Look at this, verse 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common, disappointingly normal men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. That's what's different about Peter. It doesn't say they saw how strong and impressive and well-spoken Peter was, or how holier than thou he appeared in front of people, it says they saw he'd been with Jesus. Why is he different? Why is he different? What makes him different? He's been with Jesus. That's how he's transformed. And look even further. Verse 18, so they called him. They could bring him in. They say, they charge him not to speak or teach it all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Peter says, I've seen it. I've heard it, I've been changed by it, I've got to testify to it. He's experienced a grace that changed him. No more denying, proclaiming. That's his redemption story. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that our stories too can be written with resurrection at the center. We don't have to be defined by our past or the wrong we've done or the failure we persist in. We can have grace, experience transformation because only in Christianity is the Savior, not you. The Savior is the one who rose to wash you and bring you home with him. Peter later in life is going to write these transformative words that show us how grace changes us from resume boasters that think we could stand before holy God to people that just rejoice at God's grace to us. Listen to him from 1 Peter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He's writing as one who was guarded by God's power. You know, Peter denied Jesus, but Jesus never denied Peter. He came back for him and he restored him. So now Peter's writing these beautiful theological words from a place of personal experience. He continues. in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter has totally changed how he thinks about trials. He looks at them now and says, bring them on because they humble me out of my self-righteousness and deeper into trust of Jesus. The man who once denied Jesus while warming his hands at the fire in the courtyard, now loves having gone through the furnace the fire of affliction to prove the genuineness of his faith finally he concludes though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls Peter says, I've seen him. I love him. You haven't seen him. You love him. And he says, that's just going to lead you to rejoice. There's a joy overflowing out of you because you've come to a right view of yourself and a high view of Jesus. You've shed your self-righteousness. You continue to shed that self-righteousness. The thing is, we will only rejoice when we wait upon Jesus. We will only shed our self-righteousness when we see that Jesus went through the ultimate affliction, the ultimate furnace, the cross for us to come out the other side, having established a righteousness that he now gives to us so that we can stand before God, so that we can be set free from having to save ourselves. His death and resurrection opens the gateway of grace for anybody who would come to him. When Peter first recognized the holiness of Jesus he said depart from me what did Jesus say come with me that's what he's saying to us today on the cross when he knew all of our sin he didn't look at us and say depart from me he said come with me I prepared a place for you and I'll come back for you so that you can be mine. The only way we ever shed any self-righteousness or come to that broken place to trust in Jesus is by reckoning with our sin and then seeing him having reckoned with it in full on the cross so that we can be accepted by God. So as we close, if you're in here and you've yet to start that relationship with Jesus, let me just ask you this. Are you broken enough yet? Have you come to the end of yourself? Today can be that day that you can trust in Him and realize it was never about you. You need to receive Jesus. You need to realize broken people, sinners in need of grace, are the only people he accepts. And that's everyone in this room. And for those of us who have trusted Christ, enjoy the freedom of having a low view, a right-sized view of self, and a high view of Jesus. We had gotten too much candy for Halloween. You guys maybe saw our storage tote of candy that we had. And so when I sat out with the candy and kids came up, because we had so much, I was like, just take here's what You can do. I said to these kids take just the The biggest handful you. Can take that's how much you can take and I realized that was a big mistake because kids can grab a lot of candy They first kids are like palm a. Basketball of candy and I'm like that I gotta scale it back but what was this for God's grace is like a bucket of Halloween candy he's like saying, take as much as you want. Take it all. Enjoy the freedom of being saved by grace. The freedom that strips you of your self-righteousness, gives you a high view of Jesus and a right-sized view of yourself. I'm going to pray, invite the worship team up, and we'll move to a time of communion. Heavenly Father, I just confess my own desire week to week, day to day, to want to be the hero of the story, to want to display my impressiveness, to want to establish my own righteousness. I carry it around and it exhausts me. So I just cast it off. I take it off like a backpack and cast it at your feet. And I pray that for me and for every person in this room, your grace would become the thing that defines us, that we would see the resurrection as the center of our story and new life on the other side of it, where we look more like you, where we have a high view of your son and a right-sized view of ourselves. We can only do that if you work by your spirit in our lives. So do so now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.